Share Article

scenarioDNA's latest offering is intelliVillage™ global networked consumer panels. The endeavor is the culmination of a long-evolving partnership between scenarioDNA and Neighborhood America, a leading provider of enterprise social networking solutions that enable brands to meet business objectives through strategic consumer engagement. NY-based brand planning think tank scenarioDNA has been using non-traditional methods to capture the mindset of elusive consumers since 2001.

Looking at the multiplicity of layers that might define a brand is the only way to work toward innovation

New York, NY (PRWEB)February 1, 2008

scenarioDNA (http://www.scenariodna.com)] has been using non-traditional methods to capture the mindset of elusive consumers since 2001. They recognized early on that using traditional methods such as focus groups and surveys could not capture the necessary nuances effectively--essentially, before people know what to ask for. To that end, the boutique firm developed a suite of services allowing brands to monitor the many layers of media consumption.

"Looking at the multiplicity of layers that might define a brand is the only way to work toward innovation," says Marie Tupot, research director at New York-based think tank scenarioDNA. "It's not about one big idea anymore. It's about a bunch of ideas plugging into the right consumers."

There is a mandate to allow research to evolve with the consumer. Without question, research has become a slippery slope for brand managers. The current consumer landscape makes broad-reaching "mother ship" studies outdated as soon as they're published.

scenarioDNA's latest offering is intelliVillage™ global networked consumer panels. The endeavor is the culmination of a long-evolving partnership between scenarioDNA and Neighborhood America, a leading provider of enterprise social networking solutions that enable brands to meet business objectives through strategic consumer engagement.

"Brand planning needs to get closer to research so you can push it where you need it," says Tim Stock, managing director, scenarioDNA. "Why? Because supporting the unexpected goes farther into uncovering serendipitous happenings than tradition hypothesis validation. And that's something you can work with."

The key is to source consumers who are already engaging in behavior that is in step with the brand in question. The approach looks beyond demographics and begins at a point of passion. That starting point is critical, as it leads to more robust, actionable findings. People already engaged in brand-related activity can evolve into excellent brand facilitators, even if they've never met the brand before. scenarioDNA's approach follows five tenets:

1. Build a network of villages. Find the most passionate consumers that are likely to get in step with your brand and engage them in the process.
2. Establish multiple touchpoints. Mobile, voice, landline, TXT, video, IM. Consumers live on a multiplicity of channels crossing quickly from one to the other.
3. Push, pull, observe and converse for data. Asking questions alone is not enough. To see the subtext of possibilities, one has to listen and think beyond the available answers.
4. Homerun the information. Aggregating data into one easily accessible bucket where it can be compared and contrasted gives all data equal weight.
5. View the results in context. Creating a context of personas allows a planner to look beyond the current project and see where the brand will need to move.

Because the age of the early adopter has begun to shift behind us, it's critical to evolve the way we look at consumers. To date, the most incremental, organic media transactions prove to have the strongest hold on everyday consumers. For example, mobile success is being found among a younger set looking for quick fixes regarding on-the-fly bill payments and pre-ordering food to avoid long lines, rather than the high-finance executive. These everyday consumers quickly engage technology and media in the smallest of ways, and are not necessarily aware that they are beginning the behavior.